1955 Henry J - The Henry J

Scott Sullivan has checked in. First, the Dayton, Ohio, builder responsible for the Cheez Whiz '55 Chevy, among other memorable rods, wants you to know that the stories that he has forsaken cars for bikes are greatly exaggerated. Sure, the whole custom chopper thing was red hot for a while, and the pros work where the big money is. But he's never left the car scene; he's still way into the four-wheeled art form, he assures us. Take this '51 Henry J he created, now owned by Bill Jergens.

Cute as they are, it's difficult to make a Henry J look good from some angles. "If you really look at the lines, they're sort of screwed up," as Scott says. Take the weird, motorboatish front doghouse, for instance. Scott fixed this one by completely reshaping the front fenders so their crowns follow the character lines in the doors instead of running inexplicably uphill. This required, among other mods, cutting each fender into 14 jigsaw puzzle pieces and then fitting them back together. Other deceptively subtle details include the '50 Chevy front bumper smoothed and narrowed 7 inches and the '36 Chevy headlamps. Shown here in Coker wide whitewalls (P235/75R15 rear, P195/75R15 front) and red steelies, the Henry J has a second set of rollers with polished wheels and blackwall tires when a more traditional look is desired.